


Full Disclosure

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: White Collar (TV 2009)
Genre: Backstory, Childhood, Episode: s03e11 Checkmate, Gen, Honesty, Identity Issues, Implied/Referenced Child Death, Trust Issues, Witness Protection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-20
Updated: 2016-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 02:35:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28878060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: In an effort to rebuild trust, Neal offers Peter a free question. Will Peter believe what he hears?
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	Full Disclosure

**Author's Note:**

> So I read [this article](https://abcnews.go.com/US/children-witness-protection-struggle-reclaim-identities/story?id=41335525) and was like, this explains so much of Neal!
> 
> Post-kidnapping, pre-commutation, mid-trust-issues
> 
> TW: Brief mention of off-screen child death about on par with what is mentioned in 3x06 Scott Free re: identity theft

"Peter—"

"You had the treasure! I just don't know how I can trust you, Neal," Peter growled.

Neal's mind raced, before settling on an offer he had considered but not yet made. "Alright, Peter, ask me any question. Ask about anything I've done. I'll tell you the truth, and you can verify it."

"Oh, you'll tell me anything, as long as it isn't incriminating," Peter scoffed.

"Even if it is," Neal said, swallowing back his apprehension. "Full disclosure. I swear."

Peter eyed him for a long moment, then finally huffed. "One incident, full disclosure, _even_ if it is incriminating."

"Agreed."

It took a minute while Peter mulled over his options before he said, "your first con. And I don't mean little stuff, like taking someone's lunch money. I mean real con. Felony. Big leagues."

Neal resisted the urge to sigh — Peter would just misinterpret it. "Well I did say verifiable. You won't be able to verify that one unless you've got a very persistent attorney and an accommodating judge," he said instead.

"You're stalling," Peter complained.

"I'm not. I'm just warning you that it will take a little while to verify," Neal explained. "You complained before that you didn't know what happened before I was eighteen; well there's a reason for that."

Peter didn't say anything, which right now Neal was going to count as a win. He decided to just jump in at the deep end.

"I don't know if you've ever talked to anyone who was in Witsec, but the basic idea is that you're abducted from your old life. Sometimes you're settled in a new location right away, and sometimes you move around a lot. You're given a new name, and some identifying information. As long as you're in the program, they'll keep you current."

"I know the basics — that doesn't tell me about your first con," Peter complained.

"I'm getting there," Neal said patiently. "Full disclosure means background information."

Peter huffed but waved at him to continue.

"When I was seventeen, my mom broke the rules _again_ and we had to relocate _again_."

"You were in Witsec?"

Neal wasn't sure if Peter was surprised or disbelieving, so he just pressed on. "Yeah. I was already behind a year from the time before, and at least this time it happened during the summer. So I started my junior year with a brand new name, no school transcripts, and no birth certificate. Funny quirk of the system; they'll give you a passport, but not a birth certificate. I've heard they've made some improvements in the meantime, but back then… Anyway, low and behold, little things like taking the SATs, college admissions, applying for financial aid… hard to do without a paper trail. None of my AP exams or PSATs from my old school transferred to my new name."

Risking a glance at Peter, Neal saw that he was staring at his beer, but the anger was slowly fading from his face.

"I complained; our Marshall handler told me I should be grateful that they were protecting me in the first palace, after what my father did. They talk a good game, but most Marshalls aren't that fond of the criminals they have to protect, and that carries over to their families."

"What did your father do?" Peter asked, and if he wasn't entirely calm it was definitely an improvement.

"I don't know the specifics, but when I complained again they told me he was a dirty cop." Neal shrugged. "Anyway, I turned eighteen in the middle of my senior year. No tests, no college apps, no future. So I walked away. I voluntarily left the program. I couldn't use any of my old names from the program because the Marshalls controlled them. I didn't even know my birth name; I was too young to remember it."

Now that he was going, Neal didn't want to stop, so he refrained from looking at Peter and giving him an invitation to ask anything. "First thing I did was look up what went into — not just a fake ID, but a whole false identity. You have to take over the identity of someone who died as a child, you know? I figured, I might as well have died as a child. I didn't know what the Marshalls did with our old identities, maybe I was already using a dead child's ID. But with that I'd finally have a birthdate, a birth certificate… still no school records, but I'd be a legal person again."

"So that was my first felony: identity theft — becoming Neal Caffrey. Full disclosure."

"You…"

Peter trailed off, so Neal jumped to offer, "I'll give you my names — the ones I remember — and you can get a judge to unseal the files. That's why I warned you it would be tricky. Actually, if you're friendly with one of our current cadre of Marshalls, they also might be able to get you the info, though it would risk their jobs to do it. Court order is probably easier."

Neal finally risked a glance at Peter, and found him picking at his beer label. If this was a con, Neal would say something to drive his point home, to sell the ruse. But it was the truth, and he'd already told it all; there was nothing left for him to say.

"So… the reason I can't find anything about Neal Caffrey before he was eighteen…" Peter trailed off.

"Is that other than his first two days, he didn't exist before then," Neal finished.

"Do you— does _he_ have family who would be looking—"

Neal shook his head. "No, I checked; I didn't want anyone to be affected. His mother was a drug addict who OD'd a few weeks after the birth. No father on the birth certificate, she was just passing through town. I took a pair of scrubs and snuck into the hospital; I looked and looked until I found a good match. It took me four hospitals to find one that hadn't digitized their records yet and had a child that fit. I copied the birth certificate, destroyed the death certificate. In the end I had two options, but I picked Neal over Jeffrey. Jeffrey's age was closer, but I liked the name better. I'd been a Neal before."

"Your age is wrong?" Peter asked.

"Hmm… Neal is a little over a year older than me," Neal admitted. "Maybe as much as 18 months. I can't be completely sure, because the Marshals moved it around too, but the year was always the same."

"How many names did you have as a child?" Peter asked.

"Neal, then Danny," Neal ticked them off on his fingers. "Then Nick, then Steve was the last one. Danny was probably the longest."

"Nick Halden, Steve Tabernacle…" Peter was quickly filling in the blanks.

"It's easier to answer to the same names over and over," Neal shrugged. "Danny never really felt right; that's why I don't use it anymore. George was the real Neal's middle name, so I got used to it."

Peter was quiet for a long moment, and Neal just stared at his hands. He hated telling this story; hated the idea of stealing a dead infant's identity. Once some time had passed and he was thinking clearly, Neal had sworn to never do it again. He'd done his best to make it as victimless a crime as possible, but it still made him uncomfortable. So, like his childhood, Neal had locked it away, deep inside his mind. Peter had asked, though, and Neal refused to lie to him about this.

Finally, Peter sighed gustily. "Well… you've given me a story that is, at the same time, damn hard to prove, and yet… also makes you the _victim_ ," he decided cynically.

Neal felt like he had been punched in the gut, but he did his best not to let it show. He debated for a moment whether it was worth pointing out… "I offered _any_ crime, Peter; _you_ picked my first one. I can't help if it wasn't the kind of explanation you wanted, but it was the truth."

"That remains to be seen," Peter said mulishly.

This time Neal did let his sigh escape. "You're the one who says 'trust but verify', Peter. I don't even mind if you reverse it this time, — verify then trust — just try to verify it first before you decide I'm completely lying."

Neal got up and did his best not to stalk off. Peter had been calling him a liar since that day by the warehouse, before Neal even knew the treasure was saved. He had no hopes that things could go back to the way they were before that day, but he'd settle for less outright hostility. And if that required telling Peter about his childhood, and about the crime he hated the most from his past, then it would be worth it. Neal didn't know what he'd do if Peter refused to even look into it because it would take too much work. He hoped that the curiosity that kept Peter on his tail for so long would win out over the cynicism that had colored the past year.

If not, then maybe there really was no point in staying in New York.


End file.
